— If one uses this time and experience of being in prison to practice meditation, to practice dharma, then being in prison, even though it is believed you are in prison by outside people, in reality it becomes a retreat for you. —

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Our Teachers

Ven. Tenzin Yonten


"I recently read something in Pema Chodron's When Things Fall Apart that I found fits very well with me and my aspiration to help these guys (it's in chapter 13 top of page 80 in the hardback version.

"I quote: 'Roshi Bernard Glassman is a Zen teacher who runs a project for homeless people in Yonkers, New York. Last time I heard him speak, he said something that struck me: he said he doesn't really do this work to help others; he does it because he feels that moving into areas of society that he had rejected is the same as working with parts of himself that he had rejected.'

"That hit the spot with me!

"Also, in the back of the FPMT booklet given to people who take Refuge (version 2000) there is a version of The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi with some very small additions by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. I also find this very precious.

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
(With additions by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in [ ])

Lord [Buddha], make me an instrument of your piece.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord, unity.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is error, truth.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is sadness, joy.
Where there is darkness, light.

O divine master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled [happiness for the ego] as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying [having practiced] that we are born to eternal life [from happiness to happiness up to full enlightenment].

"So, I just wanted to share those two things with you – I'm not sure if they would be helpful to others, but they certainly fit well with me. Especially to consider some of my own barriers and my aspiration to help those who are in such desperate need of some contact and a way to transform themselves.

"As for me, I'm a monk at Nalanda Monastery in France serving others, studying and practicing the best I can."

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